Her pupils killed her daughter.
Now, she will have her revenge.
After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation.
But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge.
Narrated in alternating voices, with twists you’ll never see coming, Confessions explores the limits of punishment, despair, and tragic love, culminating in a harrowing confrontation between teacher and student that will place the occupants of an entire school in danger. You’ll never look at a classroom the same way again.
Print Length: 243 pages. Publisher: Mulholland Print. Publication Date: 14 August 2014
My Thoughts:
This book came up on my instagram feed and obviously with only 2,300 unread books on my kindle, I knew I had to read this. It’s only now I am writing my review and notice it was actually published in 2014 that some of the plotline makes more sense.
The premise of this story is simple, a school teacher in Japan is resigning from teaching after the tragic accidental death of her 4 year old daughter on school grounds. On her last day, just before the end of school she starts to tell her class the reasons why she is leaving which includes her accusation that the death of her child was actually murder and 2 of the pupils in that classroom are responsible.
The opening chapter is basically a long, raw and painful farewell speech from Yuko Moriguch and I was instantly transported to her classroom amongst the young students listening to this horrific and heart-breaking story.
The chapters are long and each chapter is narrated by different characters. The second chapter is told through the voice of a young female student Mizuki, who is the class president and shares her views on the immediate aftermath of her teacher’s revelation. The third and fourth chapters are the two boys accused of the murder (Student A) and (Student B) which delve deeply into guilt, motivations, isolation and ambitions. One of the boy’s mother shares her story in the 5th Chapter, trying to understand what has happened and protecting her child and finally the sister of Student B shares the aftermath of the tragedy bringing this sad tale to a shocking end.
At first I wasn’t sure about the way the book was written, as each narrator reveals their truth using speech, diary entries and letters, but within a few pages I was totally and absolutely gripped. For some reason this narrative reminded me of Imran Mahmood’s You Don’t Know Me; powerful and brutal, honest and raw.
Overall I thought this was a really fascinating, but deeply uncomfortable story which was original, thought-provoking and very powerful.
